Our team

Kim Vance, Executive Director

Before founding ARC International in 2003, Kim Vance served as President of Egale Canada (Canada’s national LGBT organization), and is a seasoned activist within LGBTI communities at the international, national and local levels. For over a decade, Kim served on the editorial board of Atlantic Canada’s LGBT community newspaper, Wayves, and helped found Nova Scotia’s provincial LGBT organisation, NSRAP. She has received the Pride Community Service Award in her province, secured the first Registered Domestic Partnership in Canada, and was a successful litigant in one of the Canadian court challenges to secure equal marriage rights for same-sex couples. She is also the very proud mother of two adopted children, Marcus and Patty.

Arvind Narrain, Geneva Director

Arvind Narrain is a founding member of the Alternative Law Forum in Bangalore, India, a collective of lawyers who work on a critical practise of law. He has worked on human rights issues including mass crimes, communal conflict, LGBT rights and human rights history. He has been a part of many fact-finding reports on sexual minorities in India and was also part of the litigation team, which argued the constitutionality of Section 377 before the High Court and the Supreme Court.

Mariana Winocur, Communications Officer

Mariana has been working for over 25 years in Social Communication, journalism and consultancy as a senior specialist in the design and implementation of strategies with a gender perspective, particularly in the field of women’s rights and sexual and reproductive rights. She has broad experience with media and organizations managing communication products with gender equality as a central component: statements, press releases, developing communications strategies, developing Web pages and managing the social media, disseminating knowledge products, preparing flyers to enhance awareness about human rights’ violations.

Kandra West-Pettigrew, Administrative Financial Officer

Kandra has over 10 years experience in the finance, bookkeeping and payroll industry. She has been a small Business owner and has held positions such as Controller, Accounting Technician & most recently, Implementation Specialist – Payroll.

Kandra has two professional designations, a Business Accounting Diploma and Payroll Compliance Practitioner, (PCP) certified, through The Canadian Payroll Association.

ARC’s work is fundamentally directed by our partners and through ongoing dialogue processes. As such, we maintain a small board of directors, which oversees administrative functioning of the organization.